Charter school inks 70K sf lease in Downtown Brooklyn

A charter school is taking over a former Catholic high school building in Downtown Brooklyn.

The Brooklyn Prospect Charter School inked a 30-plus year lease for 70,000 square feet at the former St. Joseph High School at 80 Willoughby Street, Crain’s reported.

United American Land recently acquired the building from the Sisters of St. Joseph for $23.2 million. It will be renovated and open as a charter school in time for the next school year, according to the report.

St. Joseph’s shut down at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year due to declining enrollment, according to the Tablet, a Catholic newspaper.

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Since the onset of the pandemic, office leasing activities have significantly slowed down. But educational facilities, such as charter and private schools, remain active in the market, providing a lifeline to landlords.

“Charter school development will continue to play a critical role in meeting the demand for modern public school seats in neighborhoods where new supply is constrained,” Newmark’s Justin DiMare, who, along with Ross Kaplan, represented the school in the transaction, told the publication. “Investor appetite for charter school development has also grown, due to the long-term nature of their occupancy.”

Recent charter school deals include a 85,000-square-foot lease by the Central Queens Academy Charter School in Elmhurst. On Staten Island, Hellenic Classical Charter School secured $44 million in bond financing to construct its new 36,000-square-foot building.

[Crain’s] — Akiko Matsuda